ABSTRACT
Dionna Michelle Daniel is a new American playwright, actress, and vocalist from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A strong-willed, passionate artist with southern charm, she blends her love of poetry and song into her plays. As a true southern girl who spent most of her life in northwestern North Carolina, her writing tells stories of home. Her work addresses social and political issues surrounding the African-American experience and exposes the viewer to the purveying social injustices and inequalities permeating our community. Although her work focuses on Black bodies and Black voices, her powerful voice and nuanced words are felt from people of all backgrounds. She believes in education through art, and in its power to reach hearts and change minds indefinitely. Her goal is not to offer solutions, but to pose many questions in hopes of starting a dialogue with her audience. For the past four summers, she has returned to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, working as the presentation development specialist for the Authoring Action organization, where she mentors youth in spoken word poetry and performance. Dionna is currently pursuing a bachelor of fine arts in acting from California Institute of the Arts (Class of 2017) with a minor in creative writing. At CalArts, she serves as the artistic director of the Black Arts Collective. She also graduated from the competitive high school program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a concentration in acting. She attributes all her accomplishments to her loving parents Ray and Francina Daniel who have supported her every step of the way.
